Talk:Next Year in Jerusalem
Should the setting be "Israel", "Palestine", or something else? ML4E 20:12, September 30, 2011 (UTC) :That's kind of why I let it go for as long as I did. I guess both are applicable. TR 21:37, September 30, 2011 (UTC) I was thinking of something that can be used with Shock and Awe and Occupation Duty. The first is a rebellion in a Roman province and the second is occupied territory of Philistine. ML4E 16:40, October 1, 2011 (UTC) Another thing just occurred to me. In addition to the different actual time period categories, a catch-all for "Works set in the Present" might be useful. In addition to "Occupation Duty" we would have The Irvhank Effect, King of All, The Two Georges and so on. All were set in the present day of when they were written event though they are three AH and a SF stories. ML4E 17:02, October 1, 2011 (UTC) :I like it. TR 03:39, October 2, 2011 (UTC) ::As do I. Maybe we could define present as "late twentieth and/or early twenty-first centuries"? If we say "It has to be the year in which it was written, or at least not one that contradicts that year" we lose a good number such as ItPoME and, uhh, the one where the Byzantine emperor comes back in 2003. Turtle Fan 12:55, October 2, 2011 (UTC) :::If we don't do "It has to be the year in which it was written, or at least not one that contradicts that year", then the category would be essentially redundant with the the 20th and 21st Century catgories. TR 15:22, October 2, 2011 (UTC) ::::Not so. We'd be talking about a period from, roughly, 1980-2020. Most twentieth century works fall outside that range. The twenty-first century less so, but the absence of all the Crosstime Traffic stories would keep it distinct enough. ::::Now look at something like ItPoME: Written in 2003, set in, what was it, 2010? 2009? So under a strict definition, that wouldn't count. But a difference of so few years is really pretty negligible. Certainly things can happen within a short period of time that make society significantly different--2002 looked nothing like 2000 in many ways, certainly--but that's not the norm. A person who was looking for stories where HT takes an AH premise and talks about it in the time that he's writing and the first-edition readers are reading would surely be interested in ItPoME. ::::How about a range? "These stories were set within _____ years in either direction of the year in which they were published, or at least appear to be set within such a range." I'm thinking ten years but I suppose we could haggle if we had to. Turtle Fan 17:47, October 2, 2011 (UTC) :::::I think we've come pretty far afield of what ML4E is proposing. TR 18:40, October 2, 2011 (UTC) My original idea was that a society in a story is pretty much our present one (at the time of publication) in SF stories (e.g. The Irvhank Effect) or as amended in AH (e.g. Occupation Duty) or for that matter fantasy (e.g. The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump). However, I see TF's point about ItPoME, that even though its set in 2010-11, the society in basically the present day of publication. I expect something similar will be the case for Supervolcano, that it will take place around 2020 to avoid using contemporary politicians but the society will be 2011-12. Rather than a fixed plus or minus number of years, I think it should be decided on a case by case basis. TF has pretty much convinced me to include ItPoME, for instance but other stories will be judgement calls based on the particulars. ML4E 18:53, October 2, 2011 (UTC) :I'm cool with going ad hoc. It can be very difficult to say exactly what does or does not make a story feel contemporary, to be sure. Turtle Fan 02:12, October 3, 2011 (UTC) OK, it seems everyone agrees that the category is useful but which stories to include are up in the air. Later today, I'll create the category and put in the short stories I have come across that seem to fit. In the "Talk" page, I'll list the ones up for discussion. ML4E 17:31, October 3, 2011 (UTC)